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Poll shows which party has the edge ahead of midterm elections for Congress

Democrats hold a slight advantage heading into the midterm elections in a new poll from The New York Times and Siena University.

The poll found that 48% of registered voters would support a Democratic candidate if the midterm elections were held today, compared to just 43% for a Republican candidate. The poll also showed skepticism toward President Donald Trump’s policies, with 47% of registered voters saying they ‘strongly disapprove’ of how he is handling his job as president.

The poll surveyed 1,625 registered voters nationwide from Jan. 12 to 17 and advertised a margin of error of 2.8%.

A 51% majority of Americans also say that Trump’s policies have made their lives less affordable.

In total, 49% of registered voters say the country is worse off now than it was a year ago, compared to 32% who say it is better.

The polling lines up with other recent surveys that have found many Americans souring on the president and his agenda.

The president’s approval rating stands at 45% in the latest Wall Street Journal poll, at 41% in Reuters/Ipsos, and an average of all the most recent national polls compiled by Real Clear Politics puts Trump’s approval at 42%, with 55% giving him a thumbs down on the job he’s doing.

Trump started his second term in positive territory, but his approval ratings sank below water last March and have slowly edged deeper into negative territory in the ensuing months.

The percentage of registered voters saying the country is on the right track has held steady since April, according to the survey. And Trump continues to hold support from Republicans, with four in five GOP registered voters saying the U.S. is on the right track.

Deep concerns over inflation boosted Trump and Republicans to sweeping victories at the ballot box in 2024, as they won back the White House and Senate and kept their House majority.

But Democrats say their decisive victories in November’s 2025 elections, and their overperformances in special elections and other ballot box showdowns last year, were fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.

Trump’s approval ratings on the economy are, on average, slightly lower than his overall approval ratings.

The president’s numbers on the issue of illegal immigration, another issue that helped lift him to a re-election victory, have also eroded over the past year. The issue is once again front-and-center, following this month’s fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by an ICE agent as she protested the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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House jams Senate by attaching repeal of Jack Smith provision to $1.2T funding package

The House of Representatives is moving to jam the Senate by attaching a repeal of the upper chamber’s Arctic Frost repayment measure to a funding bill that’s key to averting a partial government shutdown.

A Senate GOP-led measure allowing Republicans in the upper chamber to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if their phone records were seized by ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith is still causing heartburn in the House.

House lawmakers voted unanimously Thursday to roll back that measure, as an amendment to a $1.2 trillion federal funding package that’s expected to get a vote later in the day.

If the funding package is passed, the Senate will be forced to consider the repeal along with the larger spending bill or else amend it and risk running the clock down on Congress’ Jan. 30 government shutdown deadline.

The Senate GOP-led measure was included as part of a wider government funding package that ended the longest-ever shutdown in U.S. history last November. 

Its inclusion caught many House Republicans by surprise, angering them for its use of taxpayer dollars to benefit a relatively small contingent of lawmakers.

A House vote on repealing the measure late last year similarly passed via a unanimous vote but was never taken up in the Senate.

‘The leadership was worried about them rejecting it, but let them own it if they want to object to it,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who called the measure ‘ridiculous,’ told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

It will now be part of the overall funding package sent to the Senate, which provides dollars to keep the Department of War, Department of Education, Health and Human Services Department, and Department of Homeland Security, among others, running for the remainder of the fiscal year. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., with a green-light from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., added the tweak to the previous year’s spending deal during bipartisan talks to end the 43-day government shutdown.

Since then, congressional Republicans and Democrats alike have banded together to nix the provision, dubbed ‘Requiring Senate Notification for Senate Data.’

It would explicitly allow only senators directly targeted in Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation to sue the U.S. government for up to $500,000.

Thune at the time reasoned that members were effectively ‘spied on’ by the DOJ, and that the very act itself ‘demands some accountability.’ 

‘I think that in the end, this is something that all members of Congress, both House and Senate, are probably going to want as a protection, and we were thinking about the institution of the Senate and individual senators going into the future,’ Thune said.

Still, that has not stopped lawmakers in the upper chamber from trying to nuke the law. Several attempts have been made over the last few months to gut it on the Senate floor, and each has been blocked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the strongest proponent of the provision. 

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., tried once again to get rid of the Arctic Frost law last week before the Senate left Washington, D.C., for a weeklong break. 

‘That policy is simply wrong,’ Peters said on the Senate floor. ‘And it goes against everything that we’re supposed to be doing as elected representatives to make life better for the people who live in our states and in the country.’

But, his attempt was once again blocked by Graham, who contended that his rights when he was not notified that his records, along with seven other senators, had been violated as part of the probe. 

‘If you cannot hold your government accountable for violating your rights or potentially violating your rights, you have a very dangerous government,’ Graham said on the Senate floor. ‘I am no better than anybody else, but I’m certainly as hell no worse than anybody else.’

The repeal provision’s inclusion in Thursday’s government funding bill caught many by surprise. It had not been part of the legislation when it advanced out of the House Rules Committee, and was only offered by Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., on the House floor shortly before voting began on a procedural hurdle called a ‘rule vote.’

It will be sent to the Senate along with the wider funding package if it’s passed by the House on Thursday afternoon.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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AOC accuses Trump of engaging in ‘increasingly erratic’ behavior

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., claimed that President Donald Trump has been exhibiting ‘increasingly erratic’ behavior.

She made the comment in response to a question from Migrant Insider editor Pablo Manríquez, who asked, ‘How big of a factor is Donald Trump’s cognitive decline, given what we’re seeing at Davos?’ 

‘I think that the president has been acting in increasingly erratic ways,’ Ocasio-Cortez replied, according to the video shared on X.

‘I think it is really damning when we think about the degree to which mass media outlets reported on Joe Biden,’ she said, pointing to how the Democratic Party ultimately nominated Kamala Harris in the 2024 race.

‘Yet, we are seeing behavior from Donald Trump that is increasingly erratic and alarming,’ she said, asserting that ‘everyone’s pretending that this is normal.’

The congresswoman said America’s ‘global partners’ are seeing ‘the entire government apparatus and a party that is willing to watch someone decompensate in front of the world and do nothing about it.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

‘While deranged Democrats like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez push these blatant lies, President Trump is dominating on the world stage and brokering historic deals to advance the interests of the American people,’ White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement.

‘Don’t forget that after Joe Biden’s brain unraveled on the 2024 presidential debate stage and nearly the entire Democrat party subsequently panicked and demanded Biden drop out of the race, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez was one of the few delusional holdouts backing and pleading for Joe Biden to remain as their presidential nominee as late as July 8, 2024,’ she added.

‘Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s peanut-sized brain either forgot this happened or she thinks the American people are too stupid to remember,’ Huston said.

In July 2024 — after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump, but before Biden dropped out of the presidential race later in July — Ocasio-Cortez expressed her support for the incumbent. 

‘Joe Biden is our nominee. He is not leaving this race. He is in this race, and I support him,’ she said at the time.

Earlier this year, Trump declared in a Truth Social post, ‘The White House Doctors have just reported that I am in ‘PERFECT HEALTH,’ and that I ‘ACED’ (Meaning, was correct on 100% of the questions asked!), for the third straight time, my Cognitive Examination, something which no other President, or previous Vice President, was willing to take.’

‘P.S., I strongly believe that anyone running for President, or Vice President, should be mandatorily forced to take a strong, meaningful, and proven Cognitive Examination. Our great Country cannot be run by ‘STUPID’ or INCOMPETENT PEOPLE!’ he added.

In a Truth Social post last year, Trump referred to Ocasio-Cortez as ‘one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Brandon Aiyuk landing spots: Best fits amid WR’s likely 49ers split

General manager John Lynch provided the news when asked about Aiyuk’s future with the 49ers during a postseason news conference.

‘I think it’s safe to say he’s played his last snap with the 49ers,’ Lynch told reporters, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic.

Lynch’s assertion comes amid drama between Aiyuk and the organization. The 27-year-old didn’t play a snap in 2025 while recovering from ACL and MCL injuries he suffered during Week 7 of the 2024 NFL season.

Kyle Shanahan told reporters during a postseason news conference that Aiyuk ‘stopped answering anyone’s phone calls, including the head coach’s,’ during the season.

‘That’s something I’d never seen in 22 years of coaching,’ Shanahan said, per Barrows.

Aiyuk’s likely departure from the 49ers means he will have played just seven games after signing a four-year, $120 million extension with the team ahead of the 2024 NFL season. He logged just 25 catches for 374 yards across that action after posting 1,000-yard seasons in the 2022 and 2023 campaigns and earning an All-Pro second team nod in the latter.

Where will Aiyuk play next? The 27-year-old figures to draw interest during the offseason, especially if the 49ers release him. Here are some of the best fits for the 2020 first-round pick.

Brandon Aiyuk landing spots

Washington Commanders

The Commanders already acquired one former 49ers receiver, Deebo Samuel, ahead of the 2025 NFL season. Could they go after Aiyuk next with Samuel slated to be a free agent?

Washington general manager Adam Peters spent seven seasons in San Francisco’s front office and was with the 49ers when they made Aiyuk a first-round draft pick in 2020. Peters could look at the gap the Commanders currently have across from Terry McLaurin – a 30-year-old receiver who played just 10 games in 2025 due to injury – and view the 27-year-old Aiyuk as an ideal, bounce-back candidate to fight for the team’s No. 2 wide-out job.

Tennessee Titans

No Titans player had more than 560 receiving yards during Cam Ward’s rookie season. Veteran receiver Calvin Ridley, who turned 31 in December, played in just seven games due to injury, which left Ward trusting rookies Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor as his top receiving weapons.

Aiyuk has endured similar injury problems to Ridley in recent seasons, but the 49ers star is also about three-and-a-half years younger than Ridley. Robert Saleh has familiarity with Aiyuk after overlapping with him in San Francisco during the 2020 and 2025 seasons, so that could convince the Titans to take a flier on Aiyuk, who could emerge as a No. 1 receiver for the team.

Buffalo Bills

Bills owner Terry Pegula threw wide receiver Keon Coleman under the bus after the 2024 second-round pick’s disappointing second season in Buffalo. Josh Allen was left relying on 32-year-old journeyman Brandin Cooks during the team’s 33-30 divisional-round loss to the Broncos, so general manager Brandon Beane has to spend the offseason trying to find upgrades alongside Khalil Shakir in Buffalo’s receiving corps.

Aiyuk would represent the most talented receiver Allen has had at his disposal since Stefon Diggs in 2023. That could help improve the consistency of Buffalo’s passing game, which has largely been carried by the reigning NFL MVP over the last two seasons.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ahead of the 2024 NFL season, Aiyuk was tied heavily to the Steelers as a potential trade candidate. Those rumors died down after he signed a four-year extension with the 49ers, but perhaps they will rekindle as Aiyuk and the 49ers head toward a split.

The Steelers don’t have many proven receiving options beyond DK Metcalf in their offense. Metcalf had 59 catches across 15 games during the 2025 NFL season while the rest of Pittsburgh’s wide receivers (six players) combined for 77 catches.

Pairing Metcalf and Aiyuk would create a high-upside, one-two punch for whoever ends up being the Steelers quarterback in 2026.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders seem likely to target Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. They will need to focus on adding talent at receiver and along the offensive line to give the Heisman Trophy winner a chance to find quick success at the NFL level.

Currently, the Raiders have Tre Tucker and Tyler Lockett entrenched as the best veteran receiving options on their roster. Jack Bech and Dont’e Thornton Jr. – who were second- and fourth-round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, respectively – could develop into solid weapons, but the Raiders need someone ready to be a No. 1 receiver immediately.

Aiyuk would fit the bill, and the Raiders have the cap space needed – their $82.4 million available ranks second-highest in the NFL, per OverTheCap.com – to target such a move.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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NBC announces Hall of Famer will host ‘Sunday Night Baseball’

As NBC rekindles its connection with Major League Baseball in devoting its coveted Sunday night slot to a national telecast, it is turning to an old voice to entice viewers on the pregame show.

Bob Costas, the 73-year-old former voice of NBC’s venerated ‘Game of the Week’ in the 1980s, will host the pregame show that will air on NBC and stream on Peacock, the network announced Jan. 22.

NBC will take over MLB’s Sunday night package after ESPN’s 36-year run, and much like its NFL package, will debut with a Thursday night opener on March 26 pitting the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Broadcasts will largely be relegated to Peacock in the periods where the end of the NBA regular season and beginning of the NFL season overlap with MLB’s schedule, but will air on NBC through the heart of the summer.

In a statement released by NBC, Costas called the arrangement – which will also include contributions to its NBA on NBC broadcast – ‘an emeritus role to conclude my career where so much of it played out.”

Costas teamed with Tony Kubek on NBC’s Game of the Week from 1982-89 – Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola largely comprised the other broadcast team in that era – and returned to baseball in the mid-’90s when the network reclaimed coverage after losing rights to CBS. Costas has also helped host a dozen Olympic Games and has been with MLB Network since its 2009 debut.

‘There is no more knowledgeable, authoritative and passionate voice on baseball than Bob Costas,’ NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said in a statement.

NBC still must build out most of its MLB broadcast infrastructure. The Athletic reported that the network hopes to hire Clayton Kershaw for select studio work, and has targed Detroit Tigers voice Jason Benetti as a potential play-by-play target.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Happy birthday Caitlin Clark! A look back at her accomplishments

The WNBA is in the middle of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement that will be made richer because of players like Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers. They have brought excitement and eyeballs to women’s basketball.

After being limited to 13 games in the 2025 WNBA season because of a series of soft tissue injuries, Clark said she’s ‘finally be back to a hundred percent’ following her first Team USA senior training camp practice in December.

‘I put together a pretty incredible stretch of never missing a game,’ Clark said. ‘The fact is when you’re a professional athlete, it’s going to come at some point. That’s just how it goes. I think it’s honestly taught me more than I’ve probably ever learned through the course of my career of how to take care of your body, how to get right, how to stay healthy and then just taking time for yourself.’

Here’s a look at a few of Clark’s biggest accomplishments as she celebrates her birthday:

WNBA achievements

  • Named 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year
  • Two-time WNBA All-Star
  • Set WNBA records for points, assists and 3-pointers by a rookie
  • Had the first triple-double by a rookie in WNBA history
  • Set the WNBA single-game record for assists with 19

NCAA achievements

  • Set the all-time NCAA Division I scoring record with 3,951 points
  • Set the NCAA Division I career 3-pointers record with 548
  • Set the NCAA Division I single-season record for 3-pointers wtih 201
  • Set the NCAA Tournament Division I record for career points (491), assists (152) and 3-pointers (78)
  • Iowa’s career leader in points and assists
  • Most 30-point games by any man or woman in Division I basketball in the past 25 seasons

Caitlin Clark awards

  • AP Female Athletes of the Year (2024)
  • Two-time AP college basketball player of the year (2023, 2024)
  • Two-time Naismith College player of the year (2023, 2024)
  • Three-time unanimous first-team All-American (2022-24)
  • Two-time Big Ten female athlete of the year (2023, 2024)
  • No.22 retired by Iowa Hawkeyes

Cydney Henderson contributed to this report.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Indiana shatters permission structure, turning hope into belief

  • When Indiana won a national championship, fans of lovable losers everywhere could cross the Rubicon from hope to belief.
  • Why not Kentucky? Seriously, we can ask that question now.
  • Money matters, but Curt Cignetti proved teams don’t need to outspend Texas.

A dividing line separates hope from belief.

Long before Indiana rewired our thinking for what a longtime doormat could achieve, hope could be found in college football’s bleakest, meekest pockets.

Fans never needed permission to hope. They’d find hope in seemingly ordinary developments, too. When woebegone State U. hired a new weight room coach, that’d ignite hope for a fiercer, tougher, more determined brand of ball!

Cross the Rubicon from hope to belief, though, and you could be accused of losing the plot.

Buy IU championship books, prints

It’s part of fandom to hope the cellar dweller you rooted for would claw its way to 9-4. It’s quite another thing to believe it would happen or, my goodness, to believe the longtime loser you support would be playing on the final day of the season.

Then along came a coach called Cig, a quarterback named Mendoza and a chant that goes like “Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!” and every fan base from Kentucky to Illinois to Missouri gained permission to not just hope but believe their never-won-much program could not only make the playoff, but even dream of the grand prize.

“We’re 16-0, national champions at Indiana University, which I know a lot of people thought was never possible,” Curt Cignetti said after his Hoosiers did the unthinkable.

Those words will go from Cignetti’s lips and straight into the veins of fans of other lovable losers. Even if Indiana’s outhouse-to-penthouse success is likely to remain more the exception than the rule, that the Hoosiers did it at all allows for hope to morph into belief.

Take it from Curt Cignetti: Spend NIL war chest smartly

You might be wondering, how can a school like Kentucky or Illinois be expected to outspend a football megabrand like Texas or Ohio State?

Answer: It doesn’t have to. Spend smarter, not more.

Take it from Cignetti.

“Our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is,” Cignetti said after Indiana beat Miami, 27-21, to win the national championship, “so you can throw that (narrative) out.”

Roster payrolls are not a matter of public record, but Cignetti’s assessment tracks with the industry view that, while Indiana is no pauper in the spending wars, it’s not putting the Texas oil tycoons to shame.

Think about it, Cignetti built the spine of this roster by bringing along his best players from James Madison. Packing up Sun Belt wares didn’t break the bank. Indiana won by mining underappreciated talent, making smart buys, then developing those guys into stars, while amassing a mature and physical roster. Sharp selection of Fernando Mendoza in the quarterback portal wars went a long way, too, toward building a champion.

None of that is easy, but Indiana provided inspiration it’s not impossible — if you have the right CEO. Indiana got this thing started when athletic director Scott Dolson nailed his coaching hire. Cignetti wins. He warned his adversaries of that from the jump. Clearly, he knows how to spot fellow winners, too.

‘You have to know what kind of players to go after,’ Cuban said. ‘… Like coach says: ‘I want production, not potential.’ And understanding that is big.”

Kentucky, dare to believe in football success

Look, let’s not kid ourselves. Teams won’t position themselves for greatness by being cheap, and Indiana counts Cuban, a billionaire, among its donors. Having a billionaire or two among your donor base is part of the playbook. But, it’s not just about spending. It’s about knowing where and on whom to spend.

Texas spent a war chest on a roster that lost three more times than Indiana lost this season.

All the money in a billionaire booster’s portfolio won’t eradicate the need for discipline, physicality and composure. Indiana had that, in spades, plus a polished and clutch veteran quarterback.

“We sent a message, first of all, to society that if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard and you’ve got the right people, anything’s possible,” Cignetti said. “Are there eight first-round draft choices on this team? Probably not. No, there aren’t.”

Indiana has several future NFL players on its team, but Mendoza might be the only one selected in the draft’s first round next spring. Contrast that with Alabama and producing six first-round draft picks in 2021. Such stockpiles are more difficult in this NIL and transfer landscape, where talent spreads out more.

It spreads to places like Kentucky.

Big Blue Nation, located right across the Ohio River from Hoosier Land, had a front-row view to Indiana’s success. They must be wondering, why not us?

On cue, Kentucky is assembling what 247Sports pegs as the nation’s No. 9-ranked transfer class. New coach Will Stein, a 36-year-old Louisville native who played for U of L but grew up a Wildcats fan, lacks Cignetti’s pedigree or his track record, but he’s just the type of hire who could galvanize the booster class.

Yes, Kentucky is foremost a basketball school and one of college football’s losingest programs. Sounds like Indiana as of two years ago.

“It can be done,” Stein said recently. “That’s the exciting part about college football now.”

Indiana shattered college football’s permission structure. Hope existed since time immemorial. Now, thanks to the Hoosiers, Kentucky and their kind gained permission to believe.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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Ranking all 30 MLB farm systems

The 2026 MLB season begins on March 25. That’s little more than two months away, and while everyone assumes the Los Angeles Dodgers are destined to three-peat, the bright side is that everyone is already looking to 2027 and beyond.

Looking so far ahead is difficult though. We don’t know how players will age. We don’t know what trades or free agent acquisitions will be made. We don’t even know whether or not there will be a lockout when the current CBA expires on Dec. 1 this year.

The only decent indication we have of each team’s future is their farm system. The teams with the best farm systems often become the best teams in the league soon after. The Chicago Cubs had one of the best in the league prior to their World Series title in 2016. The Tampa Bay Rays were near the top for much of the transition between the 2010’s and 2020’s. The Baltimore Orioles had the best for several years before finally breaking through in 2024, even if they fell apart just one year later.

So, looking ahead to the second half of the decade, which teams are set for contention? Here’s every MLB team’s farm system ranked from worst to best entering the 2026 season.

Power ranking all 30 MLB farm systems

*Prospect rankings listed via MLB.com

30) San Diego Padres

Top 5 prospects:

  • C Ethan Salas (No. 77 on MLB.com’s Top 100)
  • LHP Kruz Schoolcraft (No. 95)
  • RHP Humberto Cruz
  • LHP Kash Mayfield
  • RHP Miguel Mendez

The Padres basically gutted their farm system last year at the trade deadline, with their biggest prospects, Leo De Vries being shipped to the Athletics in the deal for Mason Miller. The Padres have some players who could wind up becoming franchise stalwarts in the future but outside of Salas, Schoolcraft, and Mayfield, there isn’t much to love about San Diego’s future.

29) Los Angeles Angels

Top 5 prospects:

  • RHP Tyler Bremmer (No. 91)
  • RHP Ryan Johnson (No. 96)
  • RHP George Klassen
  • LHP Johnny Slawinski
  • SS Joswa Lugo

The Angels reached for Tyler Bremmer at No. 2 overall, and he is widely considered their top prospect. That’s not a great combination unless Bremmer can break out and exceed the expectations he had prior to being drafted. Another one of the organization’s top prospects, Caden Dana, also experienced some setbacks a season ago. For a team prone to calling up their prospects much earlier than they should, that’s a very unfortunate situation and could further delay the team’s rebuild.

28) Houston Astros

Top 5 prospects:

  • 2B Brice Matthews (No. 93)
  • SS Xavier Neyens
  • C Walker Janek
  • RHP Miguel Ullola
  • OF Joseph Sullivan

Losing Jacob Melton in the Brandon Lowe trade is a huge blow to the Astros’ farm system, which was already rated lowly to begin with. While Melton didn’t have a spectacular stint in the big leagues, slashing just .157/.234/.186 in 32 games for Houston, we’d yet to see how he could perform in a full season. Now, Houston is forced to lean on guys like Janek and Kevin Alvarez who have potential but have yet to establish themselves as legitimate fanbase-inspiring prospects.

27) Atlanta Braves

Top 5 prospects:

  • LHP Cam Caminiti (No. 72)
  • RHP JR Ritchie (No. 86)
  • SS/OF Tate Southisene
  • SS Alex Lodise
  • LHP Briggs McKenzie

The lack of depth in the Braves’ farm system is really showing here. The team had a great crop of young talent get called up a season ago including Drake Baldwin, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Hurston Waldrep, but outside of those guys, the Braves didn’t have much else to lean on in 2025. Now, heading into the 2026 season, the team didn’t do really anything to quell those concerns. Luckily for the Braves, most of their key players are locked up for a while, so the farm system isn’t much of an issue … for now.

26) Kansas City Royals

Top 5 prospects:

  • C Carter Jensen (No. 39)
  • C Blake Mitchell (No. 62)
  • OF/2B Sean Gamble
  • 3B Josh Hammond
  • SS Yandel Ricardo

It’s hard to have faith in this team’s farm considering Jensen will be on the big league team sooner rather than later. Even with Jensen though, this team’s system lacks sustained star power. Sean Gamble doesn’t possess any attributes that really pop out of the stat sheet. Hammond likely won’t be ready for the majors anytime soon, and Ricardo is 18 years old and struggled in A-ball. There’s potential down the line, and Jensen is a stud, but they might have a dry spell of great prospects coming to the big leagues for a few years.

25) Texas Rangers

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/3B Sebastian Walcott (No. 6)
  • SS Gavin Fien
  • RHP Jose Corniell
  • RHP Winston Santos
  • RHP AJ Russell

The Rangers have some potential with their group of prospects considering many of their young pitchers were highly touted, even cracking MLB’s top-100 prospect list before small stints of poor play and suffering injuries that derailed their 2025 campaigns. If guys like Santos, Alejandro Rosario, and even Emiliano Teodo can bounce back, there’s reason to be excited. Obviously, Walcott is a stud, but he’s the only sure thing the Rangers have currently.

24) New York Yankees

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/2B George Lombard Jr. (No. 25)
  • RHP Carlos Lagrange (No. 74)
  • RHP Elmer Rodriguez (No. 97)
  • OF Spencer Jones (No. 99)
  • RHP Bryce Cunningham

Despite four players in MLB’s top-100 prospect list, the Yankees don’t have anyone outside of Lombard who has proven capable of sustaining such success. Spencer Jones smacked 35 home runs in Double and Triple-A last year, but his previous best was just 17. We’ll need to see more from him, Lagrange, and Rodriguez before we’re ready to rank the Yankees any higher.

23) Colorado Rockies

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Ethan Holliday (No. 19)
  • 1B/OF Charlie Condon (No. 61)
  • OF/SS Cole Carrigg
  • OF Robert Calaz
  • RHP Brody Brecht

Everyone lauds Ethan Holliday as this marvelous prospect. He is, but we can’t forget just how many lumps his brother Jackson has taken in the majors. He’s yet to really be an above average player for the Orioles. All that is to say that it might be some time before Ethan Holliday makes an impact for the club. That said, the team did pick up solid left-handed pitching prospect Griffin Herring at the trade deadline, and guys like Calaz and Carrigg have shown flashes of star potential if they can put all of their tools together.

22) Arizona Diamondbacks

Top 5 prospects:

  • OF Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 66)
  • OF Slade Caldwell
  • SS Kayson Cunningham
  • 2B/3B Demetrio Crisantes
  • 2B/OF Tommy Troy

Much of the Diamondbacks’ farm system lies in the strength of their 2024 draft haul. Waldschmidt has been an offensive juggernaut at every level he’s played in. Slade Caldwell has a great gap-to-gap swing which has allowed him to rack up extra-base hits in A and High-A ball. JD Dix hit .342 in rookie ball last year. And Daniel Eagen posted a sub-2.5 ERA in 97.2 innings of High-A last year. There’s reason to be optimistic moving forward, but it would be a shock to see many of these players make an impact at the big league level before 2027.

21) San Francisco Giants

Top 5 prospects:

  • 1B Bryce Eldridge (No. 12)
  • SS Josuar Gonzalez (No. 82)
  • 2B/SS Gavin Kilen
  • SS Jhonny Level
  • OF Bo Davidson

The Giants had legitimate depth in their farm system going into the 2026 offseason, then they added the No. 1 international prospect in Luis Hernandez as well. That’s a major get for a team that has struggled to produce home grown talent for the last decade. Eldridge is expected to be a massive bat right away for the Giants in 2026, and although the team lacks star pitchers in their farm, the team needs young position players considering Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers are all 29 or older.

20) St. Louis Cardinals

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/2B/3B JJ Wetherholt (No. 5)
  • LHP Liam Doyle (No. 36)
  • C Rainiel Rodriguez (No. 55)
  • C Leonardo Bernal (No. 92)
  • LHP Quinn Mathews

What’s not seen in this top-five above is that the Cardinals have another strong catching prospect in their system in Jimmy Crooks, who appeared in 15 games for the Cardinals last season. The team has depth at a very key position and it’s kind of shocking that they didn’t make any moves by dealing one of those players. Even with down seasons for players like Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews, the Cardinals have more than a few prospects with stellar upside and could probably make a move or two to make themselves more competitive in 2026.

19) Washington Nationals

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Eli Willits (No. 15)
  • C Harry Ford (No. 42)
  • RHP Travis Sykora (No. 49)
  • RHP Jarlin Susana (No. 87)
  • RHP Luis Perales

The addition of Harry Ford really propels this team forward. Without him, this is a team that has sunk a lot of assets into unproven talent with recent draft picks Willits, Petry, Harmon, James, and Sime each earning more than $2 million in signing bonuses.

18) Toronto Blue Jays

Top 5 prospects:

  • RHP Trey Yesavage (No. 26)
  • SS JoJo Parker (No. 43)
  • SS Arjun Nimmala (No. 68)
  • LHP Ricky Tiedemann
  • LHP Johnny King

The Blue Jays lost some depth at the trade deadline last year, dealing guys like Khal Stephenand Juaron Watts-Brown, but Trey Yesavage also put together a monster postseason run, still classifying as a prospect. One hit from a prospect pool is a big plus in my books as very few players are every sure-fire hits. Yesavage looked like a future star and that alone is enough to push Toronto up a few spots in these rankings.

17) Cincinnati Reds

Top 5 prospects:

  • INF Sal Stewart (No. 31)
  • C Alfredo Duno (No. 48)
  • SS Tyson Lewis (No. 76)
  • SS Steele Hall (No. 79)
  • RHP Rhett Lowder (No. 80)

Sal Stewart and Rhett Lowder have both flashed significant potential in limited MLB action for Cincinnati, but Stewart still only posted a 102 OPS+ and Lowder is coming off a rather severe injury, so it’s yet to be seen if either can create long-term impact.

16) Miami Marlins

Top 5 prospects:

  • LHP Thomas White (No. 22)
  • SS Aiva Arquette (No. 41)
  • OF Owen Caissie (No. 47)
  • LHP Robby Snelling (No. 51)
  • C Joe Mack (No. 70)

MLB is underrating Thomas White in my opinion. This man could be the top pitching prospect in baseball. He’s succeeded at every level, and even is just 20 years old. He made a brief appearance in Triple-A last season and was striking out 16.4 batters per nine innings. That is insane. Just nutty stuff. That said, I’m not sold on most of the other players in this system. Arquette didn’t wow anyone in his first year in the minors. Caissie was the big name in the Edward Cabrera deal, but he spent nearly two full seasons in Triple-A, didn’t show much improvement between 2024 and 2025 (but he did display a bit more pop) and then struggled in limited MLB action. There’s a reason the Cubs gave him away. That’s all I’ll say.

15) Chicago White Sox

Top 5 prospects:

  • OF Braden Montgomery (No. 35)
  • LHP Noah Schultz (No. 40)
  • SS Billy Carlson (No. 71)
  • SS/3B Caleb Bonemer (No. 73)
  • LHP Hagen Smith (No. 88)

MLB.com isn’t considering Munetaka Murakami a prospect I guess, which is weird considering they counted Roki Sasaki for the Dodgers a year ago. If Murakami was on this list, the White Sox would have legitimate top-10, maybe top-7 considerations. Still, even without their Japanese slugger, the White Sox have tons of solid talent scheduled to come up in 2026, 2027, and 2028. While they don’t currently have someone who stands out as a potential MLB superstar, they have a well of talent that should continue to improve the team for years.

14) Chicago Cubs

Top 5 prospects:

  • C Moises Ballesteros (No. 53)
  • RHP Jaxon Wiggins (No. 67)
  • SS/2B Jefferson Rojas
  • OF Kevin Alcantara
  • OF Ethan Conrad

Even without Caissie, I like this team moving forward. They were very well-prepared for the departure of Kyle Tucker in free agency, with Alcantara ready to take over the starting right field job. Ballesteros also flashed remarkable potential in 20 games with the Cubs at the end of 2025. Essentially, the Cubs don’t have a plethora of top-100 talent and lost Caissie, but they have a lot of pieces ready to fill in for anyone who might suffer an injury or get traded and they likely won’t see much of a dip in production.

13) Philadelphia Phillies

Top 5 prospects:

  • RHP Andrew Painter (No. 16)
  • SS Aidan Miller (No. 32)
  • OF Justin Crawford (No. 54)
  • RHP Gage Wood
  • 2B Aroon Escobar

When a guy with a 5.40 ERA in Triple-A is being heralded as the next big pitching prospect, there’s reason to be concerned. Painter was coming off Tommy John surgery, but there were more reasons to be skeptical about his potential moving forward. If he has a rough start to 2026, this team could fall much further down these rankings. Still, the questions surrounding Painter are mostly offset by breakout seasons from guys like Aroon Escobar, who managed an .828 OPS in A-ball from second base. That’s something to keep an eye on.

12) Athletics

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Leo De Vries (No. 3)
  • LHP Jamie Arnold (No. 38)
  • LHP Gage Jump (No. 60)
  • RHP Brade Nett
  • OF Henry Bolte

The addition of Leo De Vries did wonders for this team’s farm. Sure, losing Mason Miller hurts, but it bolsters this team’s future drastically, which is good considering they want to be great for their first year in Vegas. There were far more breakout seasons than there were setbacks in the A’s system altogether. That’s a recipe for succcess when guys like Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson have already made valuable impacts at the major league level.

11) New York Mets

Top 5 prospects:

  • RHP Nolan McLean (No. 11)
  • OF Carson Benge (No. 21)
  • RHP Jonah Tong (No. 46)
  • 3B/1B Jacob Reimer
  • OF/2B A.J. Ewing

It’s shocking to see how the Mets’ farm system has turned on its head in the past year. Brandon Sproat was supposed to be the top guy in the organization, and he didn’t experience a bad year per se in 2025, posting a 4.24 ERA in Triple-A before having a brief, mediocre stint in the majors. But he’s not even on the team anymore after the Mets traded him and Jett Williams to Milwaukee.

Thankfully for Mets fans, the team saw several of their mid-tier prospects break out in unexpected ways. Benge, McLean, Tong, Ewing, and Reimer all exceed expectations, which has set them up very nicely for the immediate future, and enabled them to make the move for Freddy Peralta without their farm system suffering too drastically for it.

10) Boston Red Sox

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Franklin Arias (No. 24)
  • LHP Payton Tolle (No. 28)
  • RHP Kyson Witherspoon (No. 89)
  • LHP Connelly Early
  • OF Justin Gonzales

Many people believed the Red Sox farm would fall off after graduating guys like Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer last season. However, the team enjoyed a plethora of breakouts, particularly from Payton Tolle. Pitching certainly won’t be a problem for this team for years to come.

9) Baltimore Orioles

Top 5 prospects:

  • C/1B Samuel Basallo (No. 7)
  • OF Dylan Beavers (No. 83)
  • C/OF Ike Irish
  • OF Enrique Bradfield Jr.
  • SS Wehiwa Aloy

A little top-heavy, it’s hard to rank the Orioles lower than top 10 considering how good and how ready for the bigs Samuel Basallo is. The Orioles certainly have depth but will need more consistency from their mid-tier prospects before anyone is ready to consider them a true powerhouse farm system again.

8) Tampa Bay Rays

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Carson Williams (No. 50)
  • OF Theo Gillen (No. 65)
  • RHP Brody Hopkins
  • OF Jacob Melton
  • SS Daniel Pierce

Another year, another great haul of prospects for the Rays. The addition of Jacob Melton just added to an already loaded farm. The Rays do lack some pithing depth, particularly southpaws, as not a single lefty cracks their top-30 prospects, but outside of that, this team has such a ‘next man up’ attitude and great developmental program that you can’t really knock them too much.

7) Minnesota Twins

Top 5 prospects:

  • OF Walker Jenkins (No. 10)
  • SS Kaelen Culpepper (No. 52)
  • C Eduardo Tait (No. 57)
  • OF Emmanuel Rodriguez (No. 69)
  • LHP Kendry Rojas

Considering the fire sale the Twins endured in 2025, you’d hope they have a good farm system now. Thankfully, they do, the addition of guys like Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas, and Eduardo Tait mark a serious shift in the outlook for this team’s future.

6) Cleveland Guardians

Top 5 prospects:

  • 2B Travis Bazzana (No. 17)
  • OF Chase DeLauter (No. 58)
  • SS Angel Genao (No. 59)
  • C Cooper Ingle
  • OF Jaison Chourio

For a team that was in the playoffs a year ago, it’s easy to forget they actually bolstered their farm system by playing the role of ‘seller’ at the trade deadline, shipping Shane Bieber to Toronto for Khal Stephen. Stephen struggled in Double-A for Cleveland, but has the tools necessary to be a strong major league arm. He’s still only 22 and doesn’t walk people much. His strikeout numbers could stand to improve though.

5) Pittsburgh Pirates

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/OF Konnor Griffin (No. 1)
  • RHP Bubba Chandler (No. 14)
  • RHP Seth Hernandez (No. 27)
  • LHP Hunter Barco (No. 78)
  • OF/1B Edward Florentino (No. 81)

Griffin and Chandler are the truth. They were already on the team heading into the 2025 trade deadline. Then they added Rafael Flores Jr. and Sammy Stafura at the deadline? Yeah, this team has a bright future, meaning they’ll have a three-year window of playoff contention before all their best players sign with the Dodgers, thus beginning another 10-year rebuild.

4) Detroit Tigers

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS Kevin McGonigle (No. 2)
  • OF Max Clark (No. 8)
  • C/1B Josue Briceño (No. 33)
  • SS Bryce Rainer (No. 37)
  • C/1B Thayron Liranzo

Everyone knows how great the top four prospects in this system are, but they have some potential further down as well. A player a lot of people have noticed is Cris Rodriguez who slashed a stellar .308/.340/.564 at 17 years old in the Dominican Summer League.

3) Milwaukee Brewers

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/2B Jesus Made (No. 4)
  • INF Luis Peña (No. 18)
  • SS/OF/2B Jett Williams (No. 30)
  • SS Cooper Pratt (No. 56)
  • C Jeferson Quero (No. 84)

Jesus Made and Luis Peña emerged as two of the best international prospects in baseball last season. They were already highly touted and then each enjoyed an OPS of .760 or better in A-ball. Oh, they’re also each entering their age-19 seasons.

Furthermore, while the loss of Freddy Peralta obviously hurts the team, the additions of the Mets’ No. 3 and 5 prospects in Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat gives the farm system a huge boost.

2) Los Angeles Dodgers

Top 5 prospects:

  • OF Josue De Paula (No. 13)
  • OF Zyhir Hope (No. 20)
  • OF Eduardo Quintero (No. 34)
  • SS/3B Alex Freeland (No. 45)
  • OF Mike Sirota (No. 64)

The rich get richer. Look at it. This is what baseball has become. It wasn’t enough for them to give out $1.2 billion in guaranteed money, they had to have a tremendous scouting department as well. On the bright side, most of these guys will likely get traded away for proven MLB-ready talent.

1) Seattle Mariners

Top 5 prospects:

  • SS/3B Colt Emerson (No. 9)
  • LHP Kade Anderson (No. 23)
  • OF Lazaro Montes (No. 29)
  • RHP Ryan Sloan (No. 44)
  • 2B Michael Arroyo (No. 63)

The impressive part of the Mariners’ farm system is that they built it quietly and have put themselves in position to have a steady influx of highly-touted talent join the team for years to come. While the loss of Harry Ford certainly stings a little bit, the Mariners already have a decent catcher (in case you hadn’t noticed) and just added Luke Stevenson via the draft, who enjoyed a very solid year in A-ball, slashing .280/.460/.400.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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SCOOP: White House backs impeaching ‘rogue’ judges accused of partisan rulings

The White House fully supports efforts on Capitol Hill to impeach federal judges who have gone ‘totally rogue’ with partisan rulings, Fox News Digital learned. 

A White House official told Fox News Digital that the administration is closely tracking the Senate Judiciary Committee’s impeachment inquiry involving U.S. District Judges James Boasberg, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and Deborah Boardman, of the U.S. District Court in Maryland, as Republican lawmakers openly discuss impeaching what they describe as ‘activist’ judges.

‘Left-wing, activist judges have gone totally rogue,’ a White House official told Fox News Digital. ‘They’re undermining the rule of law in service of their own radical agenda. It needs to stop. And the White House fully embraces impeachment efforts.’

The White House official continued that President Donald Trump must be able to ‘lawfully implement the agenda the American people elected him on,’ arguing that judges who repeatedly issue partisan rulings have abused their offices and forfeited their claim to impartiality.

Federal judges can be impeached when the House approves articles alleging misconduct or abuse of office, with removal certified after the Senate convicts by a two-thirds vote. 

Boasberg has become a prime target for Republicans over a string of rulings tied to Trump-era immigration policies — including cases involving the transfer of migrants to El Salvador and other countries rather than holding them in U.S. detention.

More recently, he’s drawn fresh GOP backlash after reports surfaced that he approved warrants in former special counsel Jack Smith’s ‘Arctic Frost’ probe that enabled investigators to seize phone records connected to some Republican lawmakers.

He first faced articles of impeachment in March 2025 for preventing the administration from deporting some illegal migrants under the Alien Enemies Act, and again in November over the Arctic Frost decision. 

A White House official told Fox Digital that Boasberg has a history of issuing ‘plainly illegal’ while pointing to the warrants and subpoenas he authorized in the Arctic Frost investigation.

Boardman faces impeachment calls over her sentencing decision for a man found guilty of charges related to trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The man was sentenced to eight years when the recommended term was 30 years. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is among Republican lawmakers calling for Boasberg and Boardman to be impeached. He argued that they ‘meet the constitutional standard for impeachment’ during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing earlier in January, calling both ‘rogue judges.’ 

The White House argued that federal judges who develop a record of issuing rogue, plainly unlawful rulings to advance or undermine a political party forfeit their impartiality, abuse their authority and warrant impeachment.

Both judges have avoided commenting publicly on impeachment talk, declining a Senate invitation to testify Jan. 7. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also threw his support behind impeaching ‘rogue’ judges Wednesday. 

‘I think some of these judges have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they’re supposed to operate,’ Johnson said during a weekly press conference. ‘It would not be, in my view, a bad thing for Congress to lay down the law.’ 

The remarks are a departure from his comments in 2025, when he said impeachment was not a practical tool against judges seen as activists working against the Trump administration. 

‘Look, impeachments are never off the table if it’s merited. But in our system — we’ve had 15 federal judges impeached in the entire history of the country — I mean, there may be some that I feel merit that, but you’ve got to get the votes for it. And it’s a very high burden,’ Johnson said in May 2025.

‘Frankly, the bar is high crimes and misdemeanors. I mean, the last federal judge impeached, I think was caught … taking cash in an envelope. You know, it’s got to be a pretty brazen offense or a real open crime that everybody could agree to.’

Democrats have pushed against Republican calls for impeachment, including Senate Judiciary Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse responding to Cruz’s comments on potentially impeaching the judges in a letter to Johnson Wednesday. 

‘The pattern is clear: judges rule against the Administration; the President or his allies attack and spread misinformation; judges and their families receive threats, ‘swatting’ attempts, and threatening stunts like pizzas in the name of a federal judge’s murdered son.  DOJ has repeatedly refused to assure us that they are investigating the pattern of threats for possible orchestration. Baseless calls for impeachment in this threat environment only add to the dangers facing these judges and their loved ones,’ Whitehouse wrote in his letter to Johnson. 

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State Dept moves to expand Mexico City Policy, targeting abortion, DEI and gender ideology in foreign aid

The State Department is finalizing an expansion of the Mexico City Policy Friday that will bar U.S. foreign assistance from subsidizing abortion and, in a major broadening, from supporting what the administration calls gender and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, Fox News Digital learned Thursday.

The Mexico City Policy is a Reagan-era U.S. rule that conditions foreign aid on recipient groups certifying they will not provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning. Former President Ronald Reagan first rolled the policy out in 1984 at a United Nations population conference to prevent U.S. foreign aid from being used to promote abortion in other nations. 

The State Department Friday is expected to finalize three rules to expand the Mexico City Policy to protect foreign assistance from subsidizing not only abortion as a method of family planning, but also gender ideology, equity and DEI ideology and abortion as a method of family planning, Fox News Digital learned. 

Under previous iterations of the Mexico City Policy, U.S. funding was barred from supporting organizations that provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the policy was expanded to cover roughly $8 billion in global health assistance. 

The newly finalized rules go further, and cover all nonmilitary foreign assistance to the tune of more than $30 billion. 

Foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations receiving U.S. assistance will be required to certify that they do not provide or promote abortion as a method of family planning, promote gender ideology, promote discriminatory equity ideology, or engage in unlawful diversity, equity and inclusion–related discrimination, according to the policy framework. 

U.S.-based NGOs operating overseas will face similar certification requirements, Fox Digital learned. 

Democrat presidents typically rescind the rule, such as former President Joe Biden’s days after taking office in 2021, with Republican presidents typically reinstating the rule, as did Trump in January 2025. 

‘These excessive conditions on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States’ efforts to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support women’s health and programs that prevent and respond to gender-based violence,’ Biden said in 2021 when defending rescinding the rule after the first Trump administration wrapped up. 

The Mexico City Policy got its name due to Reagan first unveiling the policy at a U.N. conference that was held in Mexico City in 1984. The rule later became known as the ‘global gag rule’ because it conditioned U.S. aid on groups that agreed not to provide or promote abortion as family planning, which opponents argued effectively ‘gags’ their speech and advocacy overseas.

The expected new rules come as the annual March for Life will be held in Washington, D.C., Friday, which attracts thousands of pro-lifers in the cold winter months to march through the streets of the nation’s capital to champion protecting the unborn. Vice President JD Vance is slated to join the pro-lifers and deliver remarks. 

Trump repeatedly has touted the policy, saying in 2017 that his first administration was working ‘to protect the unborn’ by reinstating the Mexico City Policy. The addition of gender and DEI ideology to the framework follows the Trump administration’s year of work to roll back what it describes as the use of federal policy and funding to advance progressive social ideology.

‘We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government,’ Trump celebrated back in March 2025. ‘Our country will be woke no longer.’

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